KEY ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES
1. Horizontal orientation
2. Shallow-hipped roof
3. Groups of banded windows
4. Recessed main entryAll of these are hallmarks of Prairie Style architecture.
Prairie-Style Architecture may have its roots in Chicago, but the only true Prairie-Style building in Logan Square is courtesy of John Rath. Rath was the long-time owner of the Rath Cooperage Company, a barrel-making business that achieved great success. In 1907, Rath bought the 49-foot by 166-foot lot at the southwest corner of Logan Boulevard and Washtenaw Avenue and hired prominent Chicago architect George Washington Maher to design a residence.
A permit issued to Rath in May 1907 states that the house would be 27 by 76 feet and its cost would be $14,000 (the actual cost was closer to $20,000). William Walter would do the masonry work. Today, the structure looks relatively modern. For its time and in comparison to its heavily-ornamented neighbors, it must have looked rather alien.
By the early 20th century, George Maher’s designs brought him to the forefront of local residential architecture. Like his Midwestern contemporaries, Maher worked to develop a new approach to American design free from historical references. These progressive architects embraced such ideals of the Arts and Crafts Movement as truth to materials and a belief in fine craftsmanship — avoiding the use of mass-produced items. A third tenet of this group was the desire to incorporate their buildings into the local environment. This became known as the Prairie Style.
The Prairie Style can be easily recognized in the Rath House by noting the following:
- Horizontal orientation of the building (thin, light-colored brick provides a better horizontal look than greystone)
- Shallow-hipped roof and broad overhanging eaves add to the horizontal effect (almost no attic space is provided)
- Windows being grouped in bands (to further aid in creating the horizontal look), and
- Restrained use of ornament (limited here to partial arches, stained-glass windows, several window boxes and urns for flowers).
The Rath House in Detail
The house itself is two stories high with a basement. The Logan Boulevard façade is rather plain, broken up only by a wide recessed porch on the first floor and a row of stained-glass windows above. Window openings are stark, without embellishments, in contrast to the “traditional” styles of its neighbors. Maher’s love of symmetry is easy to spot.
An expansive front porch leads to a long line of recessed living room windows. Porches and balconies were always an integral feature of the Boulevards as the extra greenway beckoned for more access to the outside. It is easy to visualize families strolling down the street to greet residents sitting on their rocking chairs. The main entrance is recessed from the front and the entry is placed along the Washtenaw side (4)— the side where Maher concentrated his architectural treatment. Along with symmetry he replicated features, incorporated several partial arches and moved a section of wall forward from the facade to form the dramatic entrance vestibule. Still, the main subjugated doorway could be considered a feature of the Prairie Style.
Because of Maher’s reputation as a member of the “Prairie School”, a name applied to the movement years later, the house was featured in The Inland Architect and News Record of September 1908. The periodical contained a front view, first-floor plan and living room photograph so the house’s just-built look was documented for posterity. The living room is as unadorned as the exterior.
The Rath Family
The corner lot along Logan Boulevard was a prime location when John Rath bought it in 1906. He was under 40-years-old when the house was built. That was pretty young for a boulevard owner. Plans were finished by May 1907 and the building permit was issued May 28. Why George Maher was chosen as architect is unknown. Initially the house held John, wife, Emma, and his mother. There were no children.
Rath was president and general manager of the John Rath Cooperage Company. He had been born in the city of Vienna, Austria, on April 7, 1870. Together with his mother, Aloisia, and sister, Louise, he emigrated to Chicago in 1884. John Rath Sr. had come earlier and set up a cooperage shop on California avenue with skills he brought from Europe.
By 1888 the younger Rath was also involved in the business. Marriage to Emma Fernitz, originally from Kentucky, occurred in May 1891, and John became a U.S. citizen on October 12, 1892. The elder Rath died in November 1891.
The John Rath Cooperage Company was incorporated in 1894 for $36,000 (360 shares priced at $100 per share) with three equal shareholders: John, Aloisia and Louise. Originally based at the corner of Milwaukee and Washtenaw Avenues, where the south MiCA apartment tower now stands, it was one of the few union cooperage shops in the city. In 1904 the operation moved to larger facilities on Kilpatrick Avenue just south of North Avenue. At some point Louise moved back to Vienna and married but retained her share. When their mother died in 1916, the siblings automatically owned a 50-50 stake.
Rath’s technical training and business experience afforded his developing other industrial enterprises in Chicago. In 1912 he helped organize the Available Truck Company, which was engaged in the manufacturing of commercial trucks. Its factory was established on the same site as the cooperage plant. Soon he became president.
Things were going very well for the Rath family. Until, there a backlash against German-related businesses occurred during and after World War I. The split stake with his sister became a liability when her share was defined as an “enemy interest” under the U.S. Congress’ Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917. The Act established an Office of Alien Property Custodian to “assume control and dispose of enemy-owned property in the U.S. and its possessions” during World War I (and again during World War II and even through to today).
A good number of Chicago businesses were soon listed. For the John Rath Cooperage Company it initially meant a takeover by outside management starting April 6, 1918. Louise’s 180 foreign shares were then put up for sale by the Alien Property Custodian in 1920. It does appear that the Raths, along with Emma’s brother, Gustave Fernitz, were able to regain control. No doubt the stress would take years off John’s life.
John and Emma Rath to stay at 2703 West Logan until 1922. It is probable they had to sell and move due to the circumstances outlined above. Then the couple spent there few remaining years in an apartment at Beacon Street and Lawrence Avenue. They were buried at Rosehill Cemetery (John in 1924, Emma in 1932), even though they lived across the street from St. Boniface Cemetery and that is where both John’s parents are buried.
George W. Maher
George Washington Maher worked independently for most of his career. He first started in Chicago as a draftsman for senior architects such as Joseph Lyman Silsbee and Adler & Sullivan. He worked for Louis Sullivan for only a few months, but rubbed elbows with Frank Lloyd Wright and other young talents.
Maher created some of the most highly crafted examples of Arts and Crafts in the U.S. His ornamental motifs consisted of luxuriant flowers combined with geometric shapes, which appeared to be a cross between Sullivan’s and Wright’s work. He collaborated with Chicago artists such as Healy & (Louis) Millet, Willy Lau, Giannini & Hilgart, and landscape designer Jens Jensen. For his residential projects, he designed mosaic floors like Sullivan and textiles and furniture like Wright. Some of his window designs were produced by Tiffany Studios.
Concentrations of Maher’s designs were built in Chicago’s Hyde Park and Edgewater neighborhoods, Hutchinson Street near the lakefront (a Chicago Landmark district just like Logan Square), and Kenilworth, the suburb where Maher lived. Many of these projects, including apartments and schools, carry similar details to the Rath House. Two others are also listed as Chicago Landmarks — the 1901 King-Nash House, 3234 West Washington Boulevard, and the 1909 Colvin House, 5940 North Sheridan Road.
Maher’s office was busy in 1907. His major designs that year included two in Evanston, IL — Swift Hall for Northwestern University (courtesy of a $100,ooo donation by Gustav F. Swift) and a $125,000 building for the Evanston Theater Company — as well as a handful of residences along the North Shore.
Ten years after the Rath House design, his son joined the office as a partner in George W. Maher & Son. The elder architect was 61 years of age when he committed suicide at his summer home in Michigan on September 12, 1926. The cause was said to be depression due to several years of declining health. So ended the life of one of the greatest Prairie School architects.
